The danger of blind obedience
It is hard to summarize quickly the vital importance of social psychologist, Stanley Milgram. In 1961 he was thinking about the Nazi Holocaust, the recent trial of Adolf Eichmann, and the Nuremberg trials, where a defense was claimed to be “I’m only following orders.” He devised experiments to see if subjects would inflict pain on others under the direction of authority figures. His research was described in 1963, the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, “Behavioral Study of Obedience,” and again in the 1974 book, “Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.”
He became widely known to millions as the Man Who Shocked the Nation, on “Sixty Minutes,” CBS News, March 31, 1979:
“I would say, on the basis of having observed a thousand people in the experiment and having my own intuition shaped and informed by these experiments, that if a system of death camps were set up in the United States of the sort we had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for these camps in any medium-sized American town.”
That can’t be true. That can’t happen here. Our ideal foundations in liberty and justice wouldn’t allow that to happen. He explained that a majority of participants obeyed the authority figure to the end, suggesting that situational pressure, rather than inherent malice, can drive destructive behavior.
“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority. Ordinary people can become agents in a terrible destructive process.”
Since then, reality has given us the massacre at My Lai, Iraq’s rape rooms and torture chambers becoming US operations, drone assassinations of wedding parties, unprovoked open sea attacks on small boats, and the harassment, brutality, and murders in this country of US residents.
One book reviewer: “There has seldom been a more fitting moment for Americans to reconsider the ethics of compliance and the fragility of moral independence, as questions of authority, conscience, and social responsibility once again occupy public life. Milgram’s work endures, reminding us that vigilance and empathy must anchor any society that values freedom and human dignity.”
Allen Brand
Bremen
Trump’s legacy continues to sour
School children and soldiers murdered, East Wing desecrated, reflecting pool polluted.
The above is only a small part of ‘the Donald’s’ legacy. He will be remembered as the worst President in American history. This is because he chooses to be remembered in that way and is somehow proud of this mantle. Our entire planet is both laughing and angered at the heinous personality that he has been, and he still is, today.
As we attempt to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, we reflect on the ongoing Trump Iran War. His war has turned out to be a marked failure and nothing as ‘the Donald’ had promised. It is not over, yet we have skyrocketing inflation and gasoline prices, not the $1.99 per gallon, as ‘47’ promised.
But the most tragic element is the “unapproved” Trump Iran War and his failed legacy. This loss of 13 US servicepersons is forever a senseless price paid by these fellow heroes. And then Trump’s strike on a school in Minab, Iran, resulting in the murder of more than 150 souls, most of them schoolchildren. The missiles were American-made and fired by our Navy, at Trump’s command.
Trump approved a no bid contact of a business tied to his longtime supporter. It was a no-bid contract to install a water-purification system in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool earlier this spring. Everyone in the US now knows that the National Park Service bypassed the competitive-bidding process that is typically required and gave a $1.7 million contract to the firm, Greenwater Services of Brookfield, Ohio. Now the cleanup of filthy green scum is in the 8-figure category.
Finally, the blatant illegal East Wing destruction by Trump will make way for his golden ballroom palace.This egotistic ballroom project has faced scrutiny regarding the contractor’s billing, as records revealed the project’s costs were estimated to reach $600 million. This has drawn criticism from lawmakers, who pointed to Clark Construction Group over issues surrounding transparency and public funding.
Our democracy will stand up to the above assaults. But ”only” if we admit that we need to replace the GOP government officials.
Bob Muckensturm
Lancaster
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Opinion: Letter writer warns of the danger of blind obedience
Reporting by Lancaster Eagle-Gazette / Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lancaster Eagle-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
